Veronica Mars

The "Veronica Mars" movie was going to be a victory for fandom, even if the finished product was 107 minutes of Kristen Bell reading thank you notes to supporters.

The television show by the same name was canceled in 2007 after three seasons on UPN and the CW, leaving loose ends and a devoted fan base demanding a movie. When the studio waffled, lead actress Bell and creator Rob Thomas helped raise $5.7 million on crowdfunding site Kickstarter to get the Warner Bros. film made.

The movie is practically gift-wrapped for fans, many of whom will actually see themselves on screen. (Being an extra in the movie was one of the Kickstarter lures.) Newcomers will be less pleased, discovering a product that looks and feels like a scaled-up television show. The inside jokes and receiving line of nudge-wink cameos only adds to the small-screen feel.

"Veronica Mars" was a very good TV show, starting with a detective procedural foundation and adding a self-referential wit. Bell was an outstanding heroine, and the writing was smart enough to convince viewers that this gorgeous and extremely capable girl could be a high school misfit. All of these qualities continue in the "Veronica Mars" movie.

Also returning: The contrived supporting characters, bad boy/good girl romantic tropes and a central mystery that appears to have been salvaged from the discard bin of a lesser "Law & Order" spinoff.

The film begins with Mars flying from New York to California to help former flame Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), who is the prime suspect in the murder of a generic pop star. Funny situations mix with "Scooby Doo" plot twists, and a lot of awkward excuses to cram in glimpses of regulars on the TV show. The protagonist's detective skills are augmented by her willingness to cross moral and ethical lines a la Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley, which probably played better when her character was 17 years old.

The age of the protagonists is a problem throughout the movie. Mars was appealing in part because she was a too-smart-for-the-cool-kids outcast. As a beautiful and intelligent 28-year-old who has seen the world, it seems strange that Mars continues to act disenfranchised. Echolls, an attractive hothead in his teens, seemingly has considerably less to offer a decade later. Veronica should have moved on, but her conflicts mostly rest in high school drama.

The intangibles, however, are all in favor of "Veronica Mars." The film has a reunion feel - including an actual high school reunion - that fills the movie with good vibes. The subtle infectiousness is reminiscent of the first "Star Trek" movies. The actors, director and crew are clearly very grateful to be making this film, and that feeling seeps into the theater.

Although most of the actors beyond Bell aren't big film stars, Jamie Lee Curtis gets a few minutes of screen time, and James Franco makes a spectacularly self-deprecating cameo. Whatever they contributed to the Kickstarter campaign, it was worth every cent.